Little Grace Lukan needs your help

THIS is the situation faced by the Lukan family of Gin Gin – selling off their possessions to pay for their daughter’s life-changing therapy to manage cerebral palsy or risk destroying the three-year-old’s chances of ever being able to walk by herself.Lucy Lukan

THIS is the situation faced by the Lukan family of Gin Gin - selling off their possessions to pay for their daughter's life-changing therapy to manage cerebral palsy or risk destroying the three-year-old's chances of ever being able to walk by herself.

Grace Lukan was born with level four cerebral palsy, which means she may, in the future, be able to get around with the aid of a walker.

But the cost of the intensive physical therapy she needs at least four times a year to engage her muscles and get them used to the movement sets the Lukan family back more than $60,000 a year.

"Our whole life is just to get money for our daughter just so she isn't bedridden for her whole life," her father, Dan, said.

While the Gin Gin community has rallied behind the family, hosting several fundraisers, it isn't enough to cover the costs of her treatment.

If the family wasn't scrimping and saving enough, a huge chunk of Grace's therapy fund was taken out last year when they had to buy a $15,000 car to transport all the toddler's equipment.

Then, after returning from her twice-yearly trip to America in September, the family had to buy a $19,000 hyperbaric chamber for Grace's oxygen therapy, which makes a remarkable difference in her progress.

"It delivers 95% oxygen under pressure and it forces oxygen into the blood stream and into main organs and the brain," Mum Lucy said.

"It's good for faster muscle repair, cell regeneration and awareness."

Grace's trips for therapy include two sessions a year at a special clinic in Los Angeles, and two trips to the Gold Coast.

"We are at the point now where we have cancelled the July therapy," Mr Lukan said.

"We're at the point now where we are starting to sell our possessions to pay for therapy.

"I wouldn't be able to sell stuff that fast in time for July."

Grace's doctors have told the family that the best shot the toddler has of being able to walk lies heavily on her receiving extensive physical therapy up until the age of five.

"That's why we have really been gunning it," Mr Lukan said.

The Lukans have set up a Facebook page for little Grace in the hope her story may reach kind hearts both in Bundaberg and afar.